Posthaste Facts on the Environment #3

Excessive regulation turns ordinary Americans into "criminals."
Americans can be fined or imprisoned for routine improvements to their own
land. Mechanic Johm Poszgai knows this only too well.

John Poszgai, a mechanic in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, was given a
three-year prison sentence and fined $202,000. His crime? He cleared land
littered with three decades worth of tires, auto parts and other trash and
hauled in clean fill to make way for a new garage he wanted to build for his
growing business. The property Mr. Poszgai cleared, which was zoned for "light
industry" at the time, was determined by the Environmental Protection
Agency to be a "wetland." As result, Poszgai was convicted of 41
separate counts of violating the Clean Water Act.

Ironically, Poszgai's actions proved to be environmentally beneficial: a
stream near his property -- once polluted -- now runs clear due to his efforts.